Way Back When
by Xyr
Summary: They had everything go wrong, nothing to help them or fix it, but when they're given a chance to fix it all, will they take it or go back to the ones they left behind? BBRae, RobStar. A different kind of TT fic.


**Way Back When**

**One**

**Circumstance**

**I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. ~Herb Caen**

Rachel Arella Logan, as was now her legal name, glared at her husband from across the room. The once great Titan and former legacy was quivering with suppressed rage at her husband, who was casually ignoring her from where he sat. Beast Boy, otherwise known as Gar Logan, was used to his wife's irritation toward him and had become impervious to her death glares and loving hatred. Lately, due to the various negative external factors, they had been fighting a lot over things such as money, food, their living, as well as their children and each had been affected by it in their own way.

But beyond money or unfulfilled promises, the matter of their current fight was much greater and more meaningful to them, their past. For many reasons as a mother, Rachel did not want her two children to find out about the powers shared by her and her husband, but despite this, her husband consistently told stories of the great Teen Titans. Not a day went by now that she didn't jump at the sound of her children crying out the names of familiar villains only to find that they were lost in yet another game.

"Just for once, could you listen to me and understand my point of view Gar? I'm getting sick of fighting over this. I'm not asking much, I just want you to stop telling those stories to the twins."

Gar looked over at her, the television flickering on his face in a ghostly pattern, giving him a gaunt demeanor, "Raven, I've explained this to you before, there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling our children about our past, I think they deserve to know."

"Damn it Gar, just listen to me, you have to stop dwelling on these things. We aren't Titans anymore, we don't have that luxury, we hardly have the luxury of a roof over our heads, or even food. I just want you to stop telling the kids those stories and start calling me by my proper name!"

Garfield Logan sighed, the circles beneath his eyes darkened by the flickering light and a great weariness. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a last look at the news, which had become grim at best, and turned off the TV in a sign of defeat. He stood up, went over to his wife, kissed her head, and looked into her eyes.

"Raven, I will do you a favor in return for one. You, me, Kier, and Ariella, let's take a trip, show them Jump City, where their regular old mom and dad grew up in the shadow of the Teen Titans. Just for goodbye purposes, and then you won't hear another word out of me about it."

Deep down, he was hopeful, but he understood Raven's pessimism despite his stubborn persistence against it. He knew that his childish memories could only be held onto for so long before they were deemed idiotic and unrealistic. He could see her weighing the matter over in her head, but the uncertainty that she held for his idea showed on her face. Nobody really went to Jump City for walks down memory lane anymore.

Raven looked up at Gar, the only thing visible on his face was an innocent hope that had not gone away through all the years of hardship she had known him. "Fine, it's a deal. Maybe we can meet with Victor and his wife while we're in town… But after this, not another word. Our kids can't hope for superheroes to save them nowadays."

* * *

Jump City had once been held in high regard along the west coast as one of the more pleasant metropolises in comparison to its neighbors, such as Gotham. In the shadow of the great and looming Titans tower, not many went in fear of crime during the days when the city was watched over.

After five years of exemplary services to the city and a record of low crime rates, the Titans received the key to the city. But even as superheroes, the beginning of a war was not a preventable circumstance, and as time went by countries fell to the calls of battle. Even Robin, sworn leader of the Titans, gave up his position to Cyborg in order to serve the cause.

But as time went on, the war seized up more than it could handle and the economy began to fall apart. Countries dropped out of the effort as the violence and protests reached incredible numbers, and more and more people disappeared without a trace. Every night a list was put on the local news stations of people who had gone missing in action, and on a late October night, the news brought a crippling blow to the Titans. A call from Gotham came in and Bruce Wayne was to inform the team on the disappearance of his foster son, Richard Grayson.

Soon thereafter Starfire departed from the Titans, originally in search of Robin, but later in an effort to escape her heartbreak. The three man team was crippled by the losses, and held together in a vain attempt to give hope to themselves and the people. Six months later, the old Boy Wonder was proclaimed dead.

It was not until then that things became difficult. After the loss of Robin, the team did not operate as well, and the three were not able to protect and serve as they once had. Instead, the city fell into a steep decline until one summer a little over a year after Robin's disappearance. Then, the Titans were disbanded on their own accord due to a rather drastic change in circumstance.

* * *

They were never meant to be together, not like this anyway. They hadn't fallen in love like they had eventually wanted to, or even had more than innocent attraction before an overwhelming sense of grief had reached through their lives. Beast Boy and Raven were together through sheer mistake, but one they would never be able to fix.

A dark atmosphere of sorrow and muted loss had overtaken the Tower, now reduced to housing three diminished teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. Only brief moments of victory and happiness managed to pierce the brittle shell that they had created. The days were taken up with trying to find and fight off the steadily climbing amount of criminals that were abusing the weak police forces.

Beast Boy was probably the most distraught, frustrated and guilty, his personality was caught between dark and childish and he had difficulty coping with more loss in his life. He still tried to get a hold of Starfire despite her not answering his calls. In his own desperation, he tried to reach out to Cyborg, who listened, but was vague and distant. Eventually Beast Boy left him to his car and went to Raven. It didn't last very long.

He had always been one to admire her, despite getting on her nerves, but in the long term, she couldn't deal with his problems on top of her own. They fought. A lot. And it was only after a great deal of fighting that Beast Boy put in his 'two weeks notice' as a Titan. Cyborg took the hit, but understood. They had all been contemplating the same thing for months now.

The day before Beast Boy left, Raven appeared at his door. For the first time, Beast Boy saw his comrade in utter anguish, and he held her as she sobbed and the room around them exploded and became a vortex of bent up emotions. Together, they clumsily made due with their anguish and made love in the heat of empathy and need for one another. With a broken heart, Gar Logan got up the next day and left.

A month later and many meditations later, Raven went to Cyborg and revoked her communicator and Titan status, then went to find the father of her two unborn children. When Gar Logan found her on the doorstep of his home, he received the news with a stoic manner he hadn't possessed before, and the two of them were married two months later. There was little love in their relationship, though it was not to say there hadn't been potential for it, of that they didn't care for the other. But it was all about the circumstances.

* * *

Both of their children had their mother's eyes, but sandy brown hair donned their heads, a gift from their father before his morphed DNA. One was greyer and one a slight green, but those were small details, and Ariella and Kier were very similar in most other ways. Including their love for their parents and the Titans, but it was different from how their parents had grown up, and heroism was not quite as well respected as before. But it was that same heroism that would take them to the Tower the next day.


End file.
